Solved How much do you trust registry cleaners?

[Versatile2820]

I agree on most of you who said to not use a registry cleaner, i ran ccleaner a couple times last week and deleted a bunch of left over entries, then i felt like my computer was becoming slow, programs keep force closing etc, so i did a system recovery and now my computer feels snappy again with no trouble at all, although before that it was spick and span no virus, junk, defragment etc

 

[DeaconFrost]

A registry cleaner isn't going to make your computer run slowly. Random issues and erro messages...maybe...but it wouldn't affect performance. CCleaner's default settings also don't dig deep enough to do any damage to the OS...that's why it is so heavily recommended.

 

[zabih]

I agree on most of you who said to not use a registry cleaner, i ran ccleaner a couple times last week and deleted a bunch of left over entries, then i felt like my computer was becoming slow, programs keep force closing etc, so i did a system recovery and now my computer feels snappy again with no trouble at all, although before that it was spick and span no virus, junk, defragment etc

I have been using ccleaner for Past 5_6 years. I never heard no issue with it. It always cleans my left overs and makes my PC better to use. Have u tried unobligated power suite. It is the best

 

[TAH]

I ran ccleaner today due to my normal cleanup routine, then i went ahead and ran the registry cleaner, it had detected 224 problems thats alot, i didnt clicked on the fix issue yet because i want to hear what the experts would say so should i go ahead and run it or just leave it as it be

Ccleaner has never caused any problems. I've used it for many years on XP and W7 systems, and no problems at all with anything it has found and removed. Like noted it doesn't check too deeply so not much chance of it removing anything that could cause problems. Also as noted there are many registry cleaners that can "brick" your system, be very cautious using any others.

 

[kegobeer]

I ran ccleaner today due to my normal cleanup routine, then i went ahead and ran the registry cleaner, it had detected 224 problems thats alot, i didnt clicked on the fix issue yet because i want to hear what the experts would say so should i go ahead and run it or just leave it as it be

Ccleaner has never caused any problems. I've used it for many years on XP and W7 systems, and no problems at all with anything it has found and removed. Like noted it doesn't check too deeply so not much chance of it removing anything that could cause problems. Also as noted there are many registry cleaners that can "brick" your system, be very cautious using any others.

Registry cleaners might have done some good with XP (and I stress 'might have'), but with 7 they are completely unnecessary. I saw in another post of yours that you have the most trouble with Windows 7 computers - they need to be reinstalled more than your XP systems - so perhaps your instability problems stem from using XP methodology on 7 systems.

 

[bru]

Registry cleaners might have done some good with XP (and I stress 'might have'), but with 7 they are completely unnecessary. I saw in another post of yours that you have the most trouble with Windows 7 computers - they need to be reinstalled more than your XP systems - so perhaps your instability problems stem from using XP methodology on 7 systems.

+1
1.5 years of Win 7 and I haven't used a registry cleaner (CCleaner which I use for eveyrthing else).

PC World in the February 2012 issue used CCleaner to clean the registry and they improved boot time by 2 seconds. Is it really worth potentially messing up your system for 2 seconds?

Go for it then.

 

[gregrocker]

Is it really worth potentially messing up your system for 2 seconds?

Do you have a link to a single verified case where CCleaner Registry cleaner has ever messed up someone's Windows?

Let's see some confirmed cases before the hearsay continues, please.

 

[bru]

No greg I do not.

My point was that in their test PCWorld showed a gain of 2 seconds of boot time when using CCleaner to clean the registry. A published article is not exactly hearsay. If 2 seconds will make a difference to anyones' world then feel free to go for it.

I have been a user of CCleaner for as long or longer as anyone here I am sure. I personally have never used it to clean my Win 7 registry. And for the potential gain of 2 seconds of boot time I certainly will not.

 

[gregrocker]

But why? Because of hearsay that there is something questionable about CCleaner Registry cleaner, correct?

Shouldn't we all want to see some confirmed cases before assuming this about CCleaner Registry in almost monthly threads?

I watched it over 15 years be developed by geniuses who perfected it beyond reproach. It may be the most respected and widely used app in the tech world, yet is a gift.

The gift of genius deserves to be defended here in the top tech forum against being continuously confused with other Registry Cleaners which are sales scams without a whit of genius.

 

[Vertex]

I have used CCleaner from Windows XP to Windows Developer Preview, most often for cleaning junk files. I used its Registry cleaner function and it did prove to be of help at some occasions such as that one long time ago when I can't save pictures from webpages on Firefox for no apparent reason. I ran the Registry cleaner on CCleaner, picked up and fixed one issue and tada, saving pictures worked again. Actually, performance loss is an almost inevitable thing that happens to PC's especially those running under 2 GB's of RAM and doing maintenance tasks on these lower-abled systems have noticeably improved performance. Removing remnants of malware could also be a function of CCleaner's Registry cleaner. To me, Registry cleaners are like drugs. I believe there are good things that a Registry cleaners could help resolve problems but that is with the right hands, right knowledge and experience, otherwise overuse or misuse will result to complications.

Whenever I see someone with a slow PC, netbook or laptop, I always recommend that they install CCleaner if they don't already have one. Whenever someone asks me to do maintenance on their systems which I like to do, I almost always use CCleaner and from then on, people learn. I still tell them what to avoid anyway. CCleaner is the most popular maintenance tool out there for free and it has cemented its reputation doing just that. I also joined Piriform's forum to help other people getting there asking for answers.

But aggressive Registry cleaners, especially whose authors ask for money and claim that using them could make systems like 300% faster are just plain malicious. Those are what you must not trust.

 

[bru]

From Piriform's site:

Over time, the Registry can become cluttered with missing or broken items as you install, upgrade, and uninstall software and updates. CCleaner can help you clean out the Registry so you'll have fewer errors. The Registry will run faster, too.

I think it has said this same thing for years. Is it still applicable to Win 7? I've heard some say no.

So if someone is getting errors, sure give it a go. As for making the registry run faster, I don't know how that is quantified but the article I cited mentions a 2 second improvement in boot time. Again if that is important, go for it.

Piriform has instructions for using the registry cleaning component of CCleaner. From it:

1. Once the scan is finished, you can review the list of issues (this is really for advanced users). Or, to save the list to a text file, right-click anywhere inside the list, and then click Save to text file...

They also list "registry rules", which gives a little description of each category it finds. But for me that just isn't enough information.

At one time I recall seeing something on Piriform's site that really simplified what the registry cleaner finds and basically said which can "potentially" be safely removed. Can't seem to find it now. It might have just been in a post on the forum. Anyone have a link?

Without some specific knowledge of what CCleaner wants me to delete from the registry I certainly will not do it. YMMV.

 

[Layback Bear]

Saving 2 seconds of boot time doesn't seam to me a good reason to be fooling around in the registry. I will say again, it's not the method one uses in the registry it's the knowledge one has when in the registry.I have very little knowledge of such things. I think their are some here on Windows 7 Forum that have that knowledge but are very careful giving it out for fear it may be use incorrectly. I don't want or need a door stop. Just my thoughts.

 

[gregrocker]

It doesn't discover any Registry items for cleaning that are still connected to an active program or the OS. These are strictly leftovers.

There isn't any such compunction about using Revo which does the same thing.

 

[bru]

These are the categories for which CCleaner finds registry items. The others come up with nothing.

Even with reading about the tool on Piriform's site and your statement that it only finds "leftovers" I still don't feel comfortable deleting registry items just for the sake of deleting them. If there was a problem I was trying to solve then I could see exploring it further.

So they will remain unless someone wants to look at each of my entries (and there are hundreds) and give me advice. Which I doubt anyone wants to do .

 

[gregrocker]

Even though it allows you to back up the changed keys?

How about with a Restore Point?

May I ask where you acquired this fear of CCleaner's Registry cleaner? How long have you used CCleaner?

Your decisions about what you trust and not are your own. I am only trying to understand better since you are willing to explain your concerns more than most - who will hit and run .

 

[Britton30]

For anyone "fearing" CCleaner's registry cleaner, back up your system and run it once. Many people who will claim this or that software will do harm haven't ever used it. CCleaner's method is not a real in-depth cleaner and has never harmed Windows 98, XP, 7, nor 8 in my experience using it.

There have been seen registry cleaners from AVG, Iolo, PCTools, and UniBlue that can brick a system. I have no links for this but some are in threads in SF and I have read such in PC World magazine. Webroot, which do I have experience with ain't so good either.

 

[TAH]

I ran ccleaner today due to my normal cleanup routine, then i went ahead and ran the registry cleaner, it had detected 224 problems thats alot, i didnt clicked on the fix issue yet because i want to hear what the experts would say so should i go ahead and run it or just leave it as it be

Ccleaner has never caused any problems. I've used it for many years on XP and W7 systems, and no problems at all with anything it has found and removed. Like noted it doesn't check too deeply so not much chance of it removing anything that could cause problems. Also as noted there are many registry cleaners that can "brick" your system, be very cautious using any others.

Registry cleaners might have done some good with XP (and I stress 'might have'), but with 7 they are completely unnecessary. I saw in another post of yours that you have the most trouble with Windows 7 computers - they need to be reinstalled more than your XP systems - so perhaps your instability problems stem from using XP methodology on 7 systems.

That may be an issue with W7 as I have been using the same treatment on all systems. I have noticed that Ccleaner does cause a few minor issues on W7 systems but not on XP. For example the home page on IE9 will be reset occasionally after using Ccleaner on a W7 machine, but the same doesn't appear on XP systems (IE8).

So who knows what other things Ccleaner may be doing that I haven't yet caught. I have subsequently quit using it on W7 systems. I just use the built in disk clean up, and that seems to work well enough.

 

[slurp812]

I still don't get this win7 doesn't need any maintenance or cleaning thing. Its windows, same old same old. I test lots of software, and remove much of it when Im done. Same instance of win7 since March 2010. I've installed hundreds of applications. I clean up with CCleaner every once in a while. I work in IT, and do the same @ work on many PC's. For the average user who doesn't install and remove many applications/games, you probably don't need it. IE9 does stuff like that on its own, but is easy enough to fix. Mine is rarely used, and still same home page, Google...

 

[TAH]

I've found Ccleaner a great tool for IT purposes. It cleans up well after installs and updates, and fixes lots of house keeping in one package. I agree W7 is for the most part is the same old windows and leaves a lot of background clutter. But like mentioned for the average user and a gigantic hard drive clutter is probably not a prominent concern.

I can not directly attribute any W7 crash on any cleaner. I am guessing it's a fundamental lack compatability as I use a lot of scientific software and some packages just don't play well with W7, even the W7 versions.

 

[wanchoo]

There are Registry Cleaners and Registry Cleaners. Some are real good and trustworthy and others are not including some that are plain scam.

I would refer you to read this article (http://www.informationweek.com/news/171203805) by Fred Langa in this connection. It is very good and tells you a lot. It shall then help you in deciding the course of action that you should adopt.

Good luck.

I ran ccleaner today due to my normal cleanup routine, then i went ahead and ran the registry cleaner, it had detected 224 problems thats alot, i didnt clicked on the fix issue yet because i want to hear what the experts would say so should i go ahead and run it or just leave it as it be